The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 28, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 14, 1998
Akio Hayashi, Kanagawa pref., JP;
Katsuhiko Tanaka, Ibaraki pref., JP;
Hidemi Tachikawa, Tokyo, JP;
Hitoshi Nakamura, Ibaraki pref., JP;
Koutaro Onso, Tokyo, JP;
Tetsuya Yoshioka, Tokyo, JP;
Asaca Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for automatically exchanging a number of record medium cassettes includes a housing, a cassette storing device arranged within said housing for storing the cassettes, recording and reproducing devices arranged within said housing for recording and reproducing information on and from the record medium cassettes, a cassette transporting device arranged within said housing for transporting a plurality of cassette hand over units, a mail box having a cassette supply room and a cassette receipt room, a transport unit for transporting the cassettes between the cassette hand over units and the mail box. By using a plurality of cassette hand over units, the cassettes can be transported efficiently. By using the mail box, a new cassette can be automatically supplied into the housing and an unnecessary cassette can be automatically removed from the housing.